Memories of Skittery
by huffle-bibin
Summary: For Skittery Week! Its 1910, and Mush is telling his orphans about the newsie Skittery. The best part is, the story is true! Told as a series of short Skittery rambles. Please Read and Review! FINISHED
1. Chapter 1: Mush

**A/N I'm back, I'm not dead, and I'm writing for Skittery week! I can promise that this will be finished, but not for a while. But I have next week off, so a good portion of my stories will be updated/ finished. And if your reading my Harry Potter Fic, I swear that I will update. Anyways, back to Newsie land. I don't own, you don't sue. Happy? Good, now on with the story!**

**Manhattan Orphanage, 1910**

"You wanna hear a story about Skittery?" Mush asked, looking at the young orphans surrounding his feet. "Yeah!" they all yelled, excited for another story about their favorite newsie. "Ok, let me get you up to speed on what was going on in his life. Skittery was sad. Ok, so that may be the understatement of the century. Skittery was torn to pieces, there was a gaping, bleeding hole where his heart used to be, he could barely stand to get out of bed in the morning, let alone act cheerful. Now that's getting a bit closer to how Skittery felt." "Wait, how do you know?" Jake, one of his young wards asked. "How do I know? Easy, I was there.

Skittery was always like my older brother. He hung out with me, showed me the ropes, helped me with some fights, you know, the usual stuff your older brother would do for you. Then he met a girl. She was pretty, but not as pretty as some of the girls who had their eyes on him. He said it was love, that he always wanted to be with her. Then he found out she was messing with some guys on the side because Skitts wouldn't play. He did what he had to and left her. Then he was lifeless with sorrow. It got a little better, but not much. Then the strike started, and that's where our story really begins."

**Manhattan Lodging House, 1899**

"Boots!" Kloppman yelled, waking the young newsie.

He walked over to Skittery's bunk and said, "Skittery, Skittery, SKITTERY!"

"Wha.. I didn't do it!" my pink pajama-ed friend said.

"What do you mean you didn't do it? Will you get up? When you get up, it's time to get up!" Kloppman said, moving on to wake up the other kids.

"Mornin' Skitts," I said, walking over to my friend.

"Mornin' Mu-mu-mush," Skittery replied, yawning so big I'm surprised it didn't crack his face.

"Geeze, did ya get any sleep last night?" I asked, jokingly.

"Yeah, I did. No thanks ta ya and your snorin' dough!" he said, taking the joke well. I was glad, as he was rather serious and it didn't take much to scare him away, thus his name. He started getting dressed for the day, so I decided to go bother Jack like I did every other morning.

"So, how'd you sleep Jack?" I asked the tired boy.

"On me back Mush." He said. Ah, the king of wit always greets me in the morning. Well, two can play at that game.

"Ha ha. Hear that fellas? Hear what Jack said? I asked Jack how he slept and he said 'On me back Mush.'" I said loudly, earning a couple of punches in the gut before moving on.

The morning proceeded as usual, with all of us ending up with our papes. I walked over to Skittery to see if he wanted to sell with me.

"Hey Skitts, wanna sell tagether taday?" I asked.

"No thanks Mush, I think I'm gonna go sell in da park and den find Louise," he said, knowing that I couldn't stand to sell in the park. So off he went, by his lonesome.

I couldn't figure out why he wanted to sell alone, but I gave him space. When we all got back to the Lodge that night, something was wrong with our friend.

"Hey Skitts!" I said cheerfully

"Oh, hi Mush," he said with no emotion in his voice.

"What's wrong?" I asked, worried.

"Nothin'," he said.

"No really, what's wrong?" I asked again.

"I said NOTHIN'! Can't yous all jus' leave me ALONE!" he yelled, tears streaming down his face.

Before I could answer, he ran out the door. That was the last I saw of my friend for a long while.

**Manhattan Orphanage 1910**

"And that's where our story ends tonight kids," Mush said, standing up.

A chorus of boos and awws answered him.

"Hey, buck up kiddies. Miss Tessa's commin' around tomorrow. She tells da next part best," he said quickly, hushing their pleas.

"Yay! I love it when Miss Tessa comes!" one little girl said excitedly.

"Y'all have ta go ta sleep sos Miss Tessa can come, 'kay?" he asked as he ushered the kids into their rooms.

"Goo' nigh' Mister Mush," several sleepy voices could be heard saying.

"Goo' nigh' little ones," Mush answered back as he blew out the candle, and all was still for the night.

**A/N Review and I shall respond! And I'll write more faster! More faster. Does that make sense?** **And a random question for you all to answer, do you take any AP classes, and if so, what? And if you don't, what's your favorite ice cream flavor? Now off to do homework and study for Senate tomorrow! (Part of student congress :)**


	2. Chapter 2: Tessa Part One

Me no own, you no sue. Read and review!! :D (Now I've gotta do Chem and AP homework. D: )

Manhattan Orphanage, 1910

Mush heard the door to the orphanage swing open and gave the young woman standing in the doorway five seconds before getting mauled. Four, three, two, one, "MISS TESSA!!!!!" the children all screamed, right on time.

"Hello my darlings!" she said, just as happy to see the little ones as they were to see her.

"Tessa, how've ya been?" Mush asked as he gave his sister a kiss on the cheek.

"I've been better, I've been worse. But enough about me, how about y'all?" Tessa asked, brushing off her brother's concern.

"We've all been pretty good, but I started telling a story," Mush started, but Tessa cut him off.

"Say no more, I know this one really well. You ready to hear more about Skittery?" she asked the children.

"Yeah!" they all exclaimed as they sat at her feet.

Picking up the baby of the group and setting him on her lap, Tessa began, "It was a beautiful spring day, similar to today when I met, or should I say was reintroduced to, Skittery…"

Manhattan, 1899

I was walking around town, delaying my shopping trip to stay out in the sun as long as possible. I had just finished a lovely visit with my brother. Well, sort of. He was worried about his best friend, Skittery. I was keeping an eye out for him, and used that excuse to wander around the bridge. Suddenly, a large wall ran into me and I fell, quite gracefully might I add, into the river.

Luckily I can swim well, and the wall I ran into merely had to help me out of the river.

"I'm so sorry miss, really I am," the wall kept telling me.

"Its ok, my walking wall. What is your name, by the way?" I asked.

"Skittery. Am I really like a wall?" he countered.

"Yep. Not much could push me into a river," I said proudly.

"Well then Miss Boastful, may I have a name to call you without being insulting?" he asked playfully.

"I usually go by Her Most Royal and Beautiful Highness, however I like you, so you may call me Your Majesty," I said with a smile.

"It's good ta see ya Tessa," Skittery said, giving me a hug.

"Good gracious boy, you've grown so much since I last saw you!" I joked, giving him a light punch on the shoulder.

"Oww!" he whined, rubbing his shoulder.

"Oh, buck up. Youse know I only punch men hard," I laughing.

"I resent that! Hey!" he exclaimed as I stole his hat.

I laughed as I ran, trying to dry off. Panting, I stopped in Central Park, throwing myself down in a large patch of sunlight. Skittery flopped down next to me, breathing hard.

"Sos, what's new Skitts?" I asked.

"Eh, nothin' much," he said in a non-committal voice.

"Really," I drawled.

"You saw Mush, didn' you?" he asked.

"Uh-huh!" I said quickly. "Wanna talk 'bout it?"

He stayed quite for nearly five minutes, but I didn't rush him. There's a reason he's called Skittery. Anyways, it was about ten minutes before he said, "Her name was Louise."

"And…?" I prompted.

"And we was in love. Well, I was at least," he amended quickly.

"It was 'bout two weeks ago, jus' after da strike started. I wanted to meet her in da park, sos I got your brudder to leave me be, and I saw her kissin' another guy. I walked up, tapped her on the shoulder real polite like and asked her what the heck she was doin'. She said I should go away, cause she didn' like me no more," he said sadly.

"So what did you do?" I asked, rolling over to look at my sad friend's face.

"I left," he said shortly.

"She broke your heart, didn' she?" I asked softly.

"Yeah. And den everyone was pickin' at me, and I couldn' take it. I left," he said, ashamed.

"Dey aren't mad," I said after several silence filled minutes.

"Dey aren't?" he asked, an emotion that was indiscernible in his voice.

"No, deys all worried bout you," I said.

"Dey care?" he asked, the hope now evident in his voice.

"Of course dey care. We all care bout you. Why did ya think dey didn'?" I asked.

"I dunno. She jus' cut me so deep, I thought I wasn't worth nothin'," he admitted softly.

I pulled him into a hug, saying, "Don' you think that, don' you ever think that. Wes all care bout ya, and dats never gonna change."

Manhattan Orphanage, 1910

"And we sat like that for a while, before I pulled him back to the Lodge," Tessa finished with a flourish.

"Were the newsies happy to see him?" Lila, a small girl asked.

"Of course they were. None of 'um were as happy as Mister Mush dough," she teased with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Can you tell us 'bout the rally Miss Tessa?" Gerry, a boy who had heard the story before, begged.

"Maybe tomorrow. But now, it's bedtime!" Tessa said loudly, getting up and putting the baby on the floor.

The children all moaned and groaned, but Mush said, "Come on now, the faster you go to sleep, the faster you get to hear the next part of the story."

The children all scampered off to bed as Tessa chuckled. "That works every night, don't it?"

"Yep," Mush said with a grin, "Yep it does."


	3. Chapter 3: Tessa Part Two

**Me no own, you no sue. Read and review!! :D This is the last chappie, I hope you enjoy it!!**

Manhattan Orphanage, 1910

The children were all sitting, waiting patiently for Miss Tessa to come over.

"Sorry I'm late kids, I got held up at work," she said as she set down a large box. "But I brought you all cookies to make it up to you!"

The children all grabbed their cookies happily and started munching.

"Ready to finish da story?" Mush asked everyone.

The children all nodded happily.

"Sos, it was da night of da rally, and Skittery had asked me to come with him…"

Manhattan, 1899

"Sos, ya ready for tonight?" Skittery asked me as we sat in the bunkroom, playing cards.

"Yeah! Danks for invitin' me, Mush wouldn't 've let me come udder wise," I said, laying down a full house.

Skittery threw down his cards, "Grr, you always beat me at poker! And no problem, I jus' don' wanna sit alone. Again. Like every week at Medda's."

"Hey, ya should've asked me ta come wid ya! I love goin' ta Medda's!" I said, mocking angry.

"Sorry," Skittery said sheepishly.

We continued playing cards until it was time to leave. I quickly changed into a dress and together we set off. We arrived at Medda's just in time for the rally to start.

"Carryin' da banner!" Jack called out, bringing us to our feet.

Jack continued, saying, "So, we've come a long way, but we ain't there yet and maybe it's only gonna get tougher from now on. But that's fine, we'll just get tougher with it. But also, we gotta get smart and start listening to my pal David, who says 'stop soakin' the scabs."

Racetrack, giving a trade mark smart mouth comment, said, "What are we supposed to do to the bums? Kiss 'em?"

We laughed as Spot continued, "Any scab I see I soak 'em. Period."

David starting speaking now, trying to be heard over the din, "No, no. That's what they want us to do. If we get violent, it's just playing into their hands."

Skittery and I stopped and really thought about what Dave said. He was right. All the newspapers needed was for us to hurt some people who were still working and bam- we're all out of jobs and in jail. Spot disagreed with David, saying, "Hey, look. They're gonna be playing with my hands, alright. "Cuz it ain't what they say, it's what we say. And nobody ain't gonna listen to us unless we make 'em."

Skittery and I discussed the happenings as the newsies next to us started fighting. Jack yelled over the din, biring the attention once more to the front. He said, "You got no brains. Why we starting to fight each other? It's just what the big shot's wanna see. That we're street rats! Street rats with no brains. No respect for nothing, including ourselves! So, here's how it's gonna be. If we don't act together, then we're nothing. If we don't stick together, then we're nothing. And if we can't even trust each other, then we're nothing."

"Tell 'em Jack!" Blink called out.

"So, what's it gonna be?" Jack asked.

Racetrack answered for many of the newsies present when he said, "We're with you Jack."

Jack turned to Spot, asking, "So, what about you, Spot?"

For a heart stopping moment Spot said nothing, then, "I say that what you say… is what I say."

We all cheered, and when Medda came out, the boys cheered even louder. She started singing, and all the boys began to sing along.

Skittery looked at me and asked, "Why ain't ya singin'?"

"No one'll hear me," I yelled in response.

To my surprise he picked me up and pulled me onto his lap. "I'll hear ya," he whispered in my ear.

I shivered as a chill ran down my spine and began to sing,

__

High times, hard times

Sometimes the living is sweet

And sometimes there's nothing to eat

But I always land on my feet

Then Skittery joined in, singing in my ear

__

So when there's dry times

I wait for high times and then

I put on my best

And I stick out my chest

And I'm off to the races again

We finished singing the song with a flourish, laughing from joy. Skittery spun me around in a circle, telling me that I was a beautiful singer. It was then, in that moment of bliss, that the shrill cry of a whistle cut through the joy and shattered it.

"It's the bulls! Cheese it!" was the phrase yelled out most often.

"Get out, I'll cover you!" Skittery yelled.

He pulled me towards the stage when I showed no signs of moving away from him. He pushed me behind him when the bull came up to get Jack.

"GO!" he bellowed as he punched a bull in the face. I finally did as he said, and turned to see him being dragged out of the room, his eyes on me. A tear ran down my face as I ran out of the rally into the night.

The next day I waited outside of the courthouse, looking for my bother, Skittery and the other newsies. They came out of the courthouse and I ran up and hugged Mush and Skittery at the same time.

"Is everyone awlright, where's Jack, how'd ya get out?" I shot quickly at the newsies.

"We're all goin' ta Tibby's to find out exactly what's up," Mush told me as the mass of boys all started towards the little diner.

When we got there, we all placed orders and waited for Denton. As soon as he walked in David asked, "Why didn't the Sun print the story?

"

Denton said sadly, "Because it never happened"

Skittery and I gave each other sceptical looks, knowing there was more to the story then our hot-blooded friends would let Denton say, as Racetrack yelled, "What do you mean it never happened? You were there!"

"You wrote it!" Blink added.

Denton continued, "It's not in the papers, it never happened. The owners decreed it not be in the papers, therefore… I came to tell you fellas good bye."

Skittery and I stopped paying attention at that point and had a hushed conversation.

"Do ya think we can still win?" Skittery asked.

"I dunno," I said honestly, "Maybe if we can get Jack back. With out him, there's no momentum."

"Yeah. And I do think Denton did everything he could. I jus' wish I could read that article!" Skittery quietly exclaimed.

We tuned back into the conversation to hear, "We get Jack out of the Refuge tonight. From now on, we trust no one but the newsies."

Early the next morning, Skittery shook me awake. "Hey, ged up sleepy head," he said softly.

I groaned and looked around, confused, but then remembered that I had spent the night at the Lodge, discussing the strike.

"Why? We're not sellin'," I said, confused.

"Nope. We'se got a free pape to deliver," Skittery said as he pulled me out of bed.

We got the papes and started giving them out to all the working kids we could find. Everyone met at the statue of Horace Greenly in the late morning. Skittery and I stood, talking quietly as Race tried to keep Les' spirts up. Then, just when we had all but given up hope, the working kids all came in!

Jack and Dave went in and talked to Pulitzer. The tension in the crowd was growing, like static electricity. They came out some time later. Jack got Les up on his shoulders, and they yelled, "We beat 'um!"

Manhattan Orphanage, 1910

"And then I looked at Skittery, and.." Tessa was interrupted before she could finish the story.

"I pulled her in and gave her a big kiss," a new voice said from just behind Tessa.

"Skittery!" Tessa said as she turned around, surprised.

He gave her a quick peck, to which many of the children went, "Eww!"

Skittery moved from Tessa to Mush, giving his brother-in-law a hug.

"Come on Mush, can't you avoid tellin' stories 'bout me?" he said laughingly.

Mush wondered at the man before him. He was a happy, bright, outgoing young man. Compared to the Skittery he had known for years, Mush liked this one better. Skittery was happy at last, and Mush couldn't be gladder that his baby sister had brought about that change in his 'glum and dumb' friend.

**Fin**


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